


Coffee Thief

by Fox_155



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bullying, Crack, Crushes, Drama, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Mentioned NCT Ensemble, Rivalry, but in a humerous way, many mentions of iced matcha latte
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:07:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29307009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fox_155/pseuds/Fox_155
Summary: Donghyuck had been the most tipped barista at Moon Prism Café ever since he had figured out how to properly pour milk into espresso – and now some newbie had the audacity to steal his title.He was not going to take the disrespect!
Relationships: Jung Sungchan/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Comments: 34
Kudos: 110





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Characters are inspired by real people and by no means intended to be an accurate representation.
> 
> I’ve never written a coffee shop AU.  
> I’ve never written enemies/rivals to lovers.  
> Changing these huge gaps in my CV right here lol. The rivals to lovers probably sucks bc I’ve never done this.  
> Also, Sungchan and Haechan are adorable together and Haechan is so extroverted I’m scared.

Donghyuck knew he was good.

He was really good.

“ _Number two, Lee Donghyuck_. I’ve known how to read since I was 6 years old and this leaves no doubt.”

“No. It cannot be. I have _never_ been second since I was new and actually sucked! I _cannot_ be second!”

“I mean, there are three people here that read your name next to the number two, so.”

Donghyuck groaned and turned to the screen again. Sadly, Renjun was right. All three of them had read his name on the ranking – in second place. A disgrace, shame on him, shame on his family, shame on his cow, shame _on the bastard that was now claiming his title_!!

Maybe, just maybe, Donghyuck was taking this a little too seriously.

He had pride, okay?

He had never even tried becoming number one, he just had, but now he refused to give his title up!

“It’s just the tips ranking, Donghyuck.” Mark was trying to be helpful, Donghyuck assumed, but he really wasn’t.

“It’s not _just the tips_ , Mark! This is the ranking of the tips given to the baristas in all three stores across town and I’m in **second place**? To a guy having worked in the location on Union Square for two months, no less?” Donghyuck recognised he was yelling, but this was a yelling-matter.

“Okay, okay.”

“I don’t even know who that is, he wasn’t at the summer party in August and he dares to make more than I? Who does he think he is? George Clooney?”

“Maybe he’s tall, you know?” Renjun shrugged as if he had _any_ room to talk.

“I bet he tipped himself to get to number one. Our store gets the highest tips because we acquired a loyal customer base and we worked fucking hard for that!” And the Union Square location had been trying to take that from them since they had opened a few months ago. This was _personal_.

“I mean this in the least offensive way possible, but you’re taking this too seriously. It’s not like the queen was killed.”

“Shut up, Mark, I’m texting Jeno as we speak and he’s shocked, too.”

Mark’s mouth was suddenly closed extremely tight. It was a great option to have, just mention Jeno and Mark would suddenly be extremely understanding. Whipped was what Mark was, whipped for his boyfriend even though it had been two years since they had gotten together during their first year of uni.

“So? What now? Do you want to have him assassinated?” Renjun sounded bored. It wasn’t _his_ job _and_ shop **_and_** reputation that had been humiliated by this… this person. This thief and cheater!

“Noooo… would that be possible?”

“If you want to serve a sentence, sure.” Renjun nodded. “I’d defend you!”

“Unless you pull an Elle Woods, I have no use for a sixth-semester law student in my murder trial.”

“Make it look like an accident,” Mark supplied.

Donghyuck nibbled on his lower lip while their group chat kept popping up with ever new notifications. He may or may not be too serious about this ranking, but at least he wasn’t the only one. It came with the job and it ensured excellent customer service. No doubt was that why the owner had implemented it.

He needed a plan.

A plan to get his title back.

He opened a private chat.

Now.

The coffee chain Donghyuck had been working at for the last 14 months was called Moon-Prism Café and had three shops in Neo City – and in total. They weren’t Starbucks.

One was in the Vision Mall to either take your drink to go while shopping, rest your legs between shopping, or to crash after you finished shopping. The store manager was also the highest tipped person in the shop and if he worked somewhere with less to-go orders and thus higher tips, they all knew they could just quit and never even try. His nickname wasn’t Winwin for no reason, Donghyuck couldn’t even be angry because Dong Sicheng was a coffee-god and an adorable elf with a cute giggle. For some reason, Sicheng had no desire to fight over an online ranking-list that was published once every month and instead kept happily working there.

Rumour had it he was also secretly dating the shop-owner, but Donghyuck had sadly never been able to deny or confirm that. He was quite certain Taeil at the very least had a crush, but Donghyuck also kinda had a crush on him, who didn’t have a crush on Sicheng would be the odd one out, actually.

Moving on.

The second was the one at Union Square, a central location between office towers and frequently visited by office workers, assistants, consultants, whoever needed to pass a bit of time and get a caffeine kick to perform well. It was a beautiful store with the most mature look of all of them, fitting for the business area, and also the most recently opened one, just seven months old, but it was so dreadfully boring. The customers didn’t bother flirting with the baristas nor returned for more cute milk-art.

But.

They tipped.

So.

Much.

It was an unfair advantage, and it honestly had been a matter of time before these spoilt baristas would top the ranking. It was still an outrage because where Donghyuck and his team worked their asses off, they just had to be a bit better than the average and achieve twice the coin.

Donghyuck had prided himself in being better against all odds, defending the pride of their café.

Their café was the one right by the campus of CTU. They were the saving grace for overworked students, the place for cute dates, the pick-me-up during the day.

Their store was cute, adorable even, and they didn’t just do milk hearts how the spoilt brats at Union Square did, no, Donghyuck and his team were artists with the foamed milk, they performed calligraphy on the to-go cups, and, most importantly, they weren’t shy with compliments for their guests.

And that was why, despite their clientele not being adventurously overpaid, they were the highest tipped store and had Donghyuck leading the ranking for the last 10 months.

_Had been._

Until now.

“I get hives just looking at that pretentious building. Look at that steak restaurant next door – they should be ashamed they’ve not been topping the ranking since they opened!” Kunhang’s voice dripped with contempt and Donghyuck hummed. Sure, he had been here before. Once. Just to check.

“I bet they don’t even know a cinnamon from an Italian roast, nevermind how to pour milk other than straight into the middle.”

Kunhang nodded.

Maybe it was the jealousy speaking. Or the competitiveness. Or both.

“So. The dude is on shift. Let’s go and make sure his life is hell,” Kunhang grinned and Donghyuck was glad to have a friend and co-worker who didn’t only understand, no, Kunhang went the petty extra mile together with Donghyuck.

There was no bell on the door and obnoxious jazz music was playing. Who even liked Jazz? Certainly not their boss Taeil, but playing EDM didn’t even work at the mall…

It wasn’t busy, but that was to be expected. It was 5 pm, shortly before closing time, 5:30, and most people were done with their coffee for the day.

Only two people were behind the counter, a woman and a guy. Their target. Luckily, it was he who stopped polishing glasses and came to greet them.

Donghyuck wasn’t sure what he had expected.

Not this, clearly.

Oh no.

Renjun had been right!

Donghyuck hated that, he hated, hated, hated that.

Because the guy who pushed his fringe from his eyes before breaking into a brilliant smile was, indeed, tall. Tall and handsome, sadly. Very sadly.

Donghyuck hated him even more now.

“Hi, welcome to Moon-Prism Café. I’m Sungchan, what can I get you two today?”

Donghyuck took the liberty to ignore him and stared at the menu above their heads. He stared hard and long despite knowing all of this by heart. He also knew his order, but he wasn’t going to be a nice and normal customer. Oh no. To get someone to quit, you had to suck, make their life hell, make them hate their job.

“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh,” Guanheng dragged the word out until he ran out of air.

“Do you still need a minute? Or would you like some help?”

“Sorry, I’m reading!” Donghyuck snapped. Wow, he was being so rude, this was so fun – if only the poor guy behind the counter didn’t look so devastated by being snapped at.

If he was this soft, he’d be ready to quit in a week flat.

Oh, those sad Bambi eyes…

“Sure. My bad.”

Donghyuck tore his eyes from the cute face without paying further attention to how unfair it was that he didn’t even suffer a little bit from some minor visual impairment, maybe some pimples or unevenness, no, nothing. The audacity to be this good-looking, Donghyuck was _this_ close to just writing a complaint letter to his parents.

“So, um, what’s the difference between the Latte Macchiato and the Caffè Latte?” Guanheng asked as if he didn’t also know the menu by heart, too.

Patiently, Sungchan gave the explanation every barista knew.

Donghyuck checked the time. They weren’t allowed to kick customers out who were still ordering or drinking to stay. It had been four minutes, so it was now 5:07. Donghyuck giggled internally about how evil this plan was.

“So… do you have cashew milk?” Donghyuck asked because he knew they did – somewhere in the fridge, far away, or, even better, in the storage room, because soy and oat were much more popular.

“Yes, yes, we do, we have soy, almond, cashew, and oat milk!”

“Mm,” Donghyuck nodded as if this was not a big selection and barely satisfied his minimum requirements. Sungchan looked discouraged. As if that was his idea to have such a big collection and not their vegan owner’s and he’d now get to be disappointed by being called out! Wow, the disrespect towards Taeil, Donghyuck felt his sympathy for the title-thief drop by the second – it was nearing -100 now.

“Actually, I recommend oat milk because it foams the best!”

Donghyuck sighed.

“I’m allergic.”

“Oh.”

Donghyuck was not allergic.

He was laughing his ass off internally, though.

“So. I’d like an iced matcha latte. No ice, please,” Kunhang ordered.

Donghyuck nearly gasped.

How _evil_!

Everyone knew making iced matcha was already a nightmare, but without ice? It was near impossible to get anything edible.

Sungchan looked like he had no idea, he probably hadn’t gotten this request yet because who wanted an un-iced iced matcha?

He’d learn soon enough when Guanheng would complain about it.

Donghyuck had to really pull himself together to keep from snickering.

“Small, medium, or large?”

“Large.”

Donghyuck had to turn his face down and pretend he was checking his phone to get his expression back under control.

Evil, so evil!

“Anything else I could help you with?”

“That’s all. Thanks.”

“Alright, who do I make it for?”

“Me?”

“Um… right! May I get your name?”

“Ooooh. Right, sure Huang Guanheng.”

Donghyuck heard himself snort softly. There was no way in hell Sungchan would get that right.

“O…kay. That would be 6.45 then.”

“I’ll pay cash.”

The coins in Kunhang’s wallet sounded like a pirate’s treasure – and they were.

Donghyuck had regained control over his facial muscles and looked up, seeing the despair in Sungchan’s eyes.

Oh, he was feasting on it.

Kunhang painstakingly slowly collected 5s and 10s until he had summed up 6.45. The time was 5:16.

“Have you decided already?” Sungchan asked, turning to Donghyuck. He had, hours ago, but he shook his head.

“I’m almost there. Just do his first?”

“Alright.”Sungchan beamed again, looking like he was getting back into his comfort zone – which was not what they had planned at all, but they’d throw him right off track again in a few seconds. He poured the ingredients into the shaker and Donghyuck found his eyes lingering a bit too long. Just to assess the competition, of course. He had absolutely no other interest in this man even though he was rather cute. And tall. And handsome.

But he was the enemy, a cheating thief!

The shaking was the most annoying part of making an iced matcha latte and especially without ice, you were shaking to fail.

Donghyuck watched in glee.

When Sungchang poured the drink, it was clear it had clumped. Of course, it had. Just because they offered this didn’t mean it made sense.

The name on the cup was botched, too, and Donghyuck had to control his face a lot not to burst out laughing, maybe even roll over the floor some…

“Have you decided yet?”

“Ah, yeah, I’d take a macchiato decaf with one vanilla, one caramel and cashew milk.”

Foaming cashew milk was about as enjoyable an experience as making an iced match without ice.

Donghyuck internally rubbed his hands.

“Alright, who do I make it for?”

“Haechan.”

“Okay, just a second.”

Donghyuck turned to Kunhang, whose face had twisted and he was probably still fighting the matcha powder sticking to his teeth.

“Wow, this is so bad.”

Donghyuck saw Sungchan flinch.

Making difficult drinks was one thing. No one quit over that.

But this.

Donghyuck had to hold an evil cackle. Served him right!

“Let me try.” Donghyuck stupidly actually took a sip. It was bad. Not really Sungchan’s fault, even though Donghyuck made a much better iced match without ice. But, well, this was some cheating newbie, the expectations were low.

He coughed for dramatic effect.

“Yuk.”

By now, they had made enough of a scene for Sungchan to take a break from coffee.

“Hey, are you not happy with it?”

Kunhang scoffed.

“Definitely not.”

“Oh. Um. Let me make you a new drink, to make up for it?”

“I guess…”

“Is it okay if I add ice?”

Kunhang pursed his lips. “I don’t like that, though, I ordered no ice.”

“Right.”

So weak. Donghyuck would have never asked such a rude question. No way would people tip someone so rude so much. It _must_ be cheating!

“You what now?”

“We went to Union Square and I’m telling you that guy is a scam!” Donghyuck hissed back, repeating himself. The way Xiaojun burst into hysterical laughter was uncalled for, but okay. He was also not even within the top ten of the ranking, so Donghyuck would politely ignore his opinion.

“And now you’re trying to bully him into quitting? How much money do you want to blow there until he actually does? And are you sure you’ll actually succeed? Horrible customers come with the job, I think he can handle them. Wouldn’t you feel bad?” Jeno looked worried. About that **thief**!

“I won’t. I promise I won’t at all feel bad for some runaway boy that’s stealing my title I worked so hard for!” Donghyuck fumed. He still had the taste of that macchiato on his tongue. There was a reason why cashew milk was the least popular…

Which was fully Sungchan’s fault, of course. He had not even managed to properly foam it even though it was possible with a bit of practice.

An undeserving title-thief!

Donghyuck tied the ribbon of his apron on the left, making it into a pretty little bow, letting one end flop over it. Perfect.

He stuck on his nametag and let go of all the negative thoughts.

He had a title to defend, to regain, and he was the one actually working hard for it!

Working at a café part-time to pay the bills wasn’t something extraordinary for a student like Donghyuck. He had definitely not signed up for this battle, but he was nothing if not competitive.

It wasn’t like it was hard to smile at pretty girls and give them compliments to sweeten their day.

It was just as easy to smile at cute boys and give them some nice words for the day. There were reasons why Donghyuck made the tips he did and not being stuck in toxic masculinity was one of them.

Everything was fine.

Everything was as it usually was.

Donghyuck eyed his tips tolling up and did extra aegyo for Johnny, who laughed and added another buck. He was the best and also just objectively speaking totally Donghyuck’s type. Tall, smart, and funny. Sadly, Johnny had a girlfriend that he was frequently seen with and who was four years older than Donghyuck, so he didn’t even bother.

“Are you going to lock up?”

Donghyuck looked at the clock. They had five minuted until closing and people were leaving. He remembered keeping the store on Union Square from closing yesterday and internally snickered.

“I’m not doing the register alone,” Donghyuck whispered back. Yerim’s eyes wandered to the clock as well. “Where do you want to go, what’s so urgent?”

“I have a date.”

“Boo.”

“Come on, you just have to close and wait for Taeil to come. Where do _you_ have to be? Don’t you want to get that title of… oh no.”

Donghyuck followed her widening eyes and saw what had her in shock.

Customers.

At 4:55.

The audacity. They had already turned the coffee machine off. They better just wanted tea!

And then Donghyuck realised _who_ was just coming through the door.

“The title thief!”

“The what?”

“Sh! Hey, welcome to Moon Prism Café, how can I help you today?” Donghyuck beamed. How had he found out about Donghyuck’s identity?

And, even worse, was he trying to turn this battle around?

Well, two could play a game. Donghyuck’s smile was bright, brilliant, beautiful, the smile of the number one barista of Moon Prism Café.

Sungchan could eat _dirt_!

Whoever his friend was, also had the nerve to be tall, eying the menu as if he had never before seen a coffee menu.

Donghyuck called bullshit, but he could appreciate some good acting.

“Hey,” the thief smiled, but then seemed to remember he was here on a mission and tried hard to look unfriendly. It kinda failed and Donghyuck felt sorry for him.

“Is there anything you recommend?” The allegedly confused friend asked.

“Of course.” Donghyuck always had a recommendation and right now that recommendation was something for which he didn’t have to turn the coffee machine back on. “This late, coffee is not recommendable anymore, but we offer so much more. How does a shake sound to you?” Donghyuck observed the reaction. Shakes were sweet, not everyone’s taste, but he looked interested. Reading his customers was a given to becoming the best-tipped barista. Obviously.

“I take you for a person who likes things sweet.”

“Do you?” The guy asked, smirking. Oh, interesting turn. Donghyuck had no problem with that, though.

“Mm, I do. Sweet guys get all the good choices here. Cookies and cream, strawberry, or chocolate maybe? I can make it vegan and lactose-free.”

“Choco!”

Donghyuck nodded. One person he didn’t have to turn the machine on for.

He turned to his arch-nemesis.

“And you?”

Sungchan was busy glaring at his friend down. Well, they all fell for Donghyuck’s charms, didn’t they?

“M-me? Oh, right! Um, a matcha latte, please.”

Oh, he thought he was so funny just because Kunhang had scammed him out of four yesterday, didn’t he?

“Of course. Iced?” Donghyuck beamed, relishing in the confused expression for the second that it lasted.

“Oh, yeah. No ice and also with almond milk, please.”

Donghyuck nodded. He had seen that coming, but he was not going to bow down to the title thief.

Sungchang clearly thought this would make it harder, but it actually wouldn’t because the powder dissolved a little easier in the fat-reduced and watery almond milk formula.

Well, what else could he expect from a rookie?

He saw Yerim kicking into action, making that chocolate shake already while he rang them up and prepared cups.

“Sweetie” and “Sungchan-ah”. Donghyuck rarely asked for names, it was part of what people liked.

It felt like he was going to battle. Worse than he felt before exams. Maybe he was taking this too seriously?

Nah.

Donghyuck knew all the recipes by heart, so he poured the almond milk into the shaker without hesitating, then added two cups of matcha powder and hurried to screw it close. This was a question of time, but he couldn’t slack closing the lid or it’d be a mess and humiliation.

With practised ease, Donghyuck started shaking, giving it a slight twist up and down, just enough to really make sure everything inside was being mixed as good as humanly possible.

Yerim was already finishing the shake, but that went into the blender and didn’t take as long.

Donghyuck didn’t want to over-shake or take too much time. Just a bit more…

He eyed the consistency when he poured the matcha latte. It looked smooth, which was a first step but not enough.

He had to hope for the best here…

He turned with a bright smile.

“Here you go!”

Sungchan was so obviously eager to get his hands on the drink and Donghyuck felt his heart hammer unreasonably fast for the situation.

Yerim was growing uneasy, twitching around. If Donghyuck had to re-make the matcha latte, they’d be here another ten minutes and it was already past five. For the Union Square shop, it wasn’t past closing time yet, but here it was.

Then, Sungchan’s eyes widened and Donghyuck expected the worst. If Yerim found out about this being part of Donghyuck’s plan to regain his title with a little foul play, she was going to have his head. Donghyuck honestly did feel bad about making her late for her date, but his title was just much more important.

“Woah, it’s so good!”

Donghyuck internally sighed, but he pretended like this was a matter of course. Which… it was.

“Thanks!”

Oh, was that…

“Guess you’ll have to tip him,” the mysterious friend commented.

Sungchan’s face fell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it, please leave me a comment ^^
> 
> Twitter: @155Fox  
> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)


	2. Chapter 2

“I heard Yerim came late to her date yesterday because of you.”

“Shut up, she was crying tears from laughing. It was a good time.”

“Yeah, she said she cried and had to re-do her makeup.”

“True, true, we both were.”

“And I also heard Taeil was worried he’d have to call for help.”

“Yes, that happened. I told you, it was a good time.”

Chenle was looking much too judgingly for Donghyuck’s liking.

“How do you even know? Since when are you friends with people?”

“Excuse you?”

“With Yerim! With Yerim!”

“I’m not. I heard from Kun, who heard from Sicheng, who heard from Taeil.”

“Y’all are a bunch of gossipers.”

“What did you cry about, though?” Jisung had just been listening so far. Listening and eating rice crackers like they’d be discontinued tomorrow.

“I told you about that insane ranking Taeil made to incentivise his employees,” Chenle explained and took a cracker.

Jisung’s face was blank.

“I’m not going to go into details,” Donghyuck cut in. “But a newbie working at the Union Square location cheated his way to the top of the list, taking my rightful place. I just won’t stand back and allow such behaviour, so, Kunhang and I went to, you know, show him he doesn’t have what it takes. Make him realise by himself. But then he came back to take revenge, or he tried, but he forgot that I’m actually just _that_ good.”

“Mm,” Jisung crunched down on another rice cracker.

“You left the part out where that poor newbie that Kunhang and Donghyuck want to bully out of his job fell head over heels for Donghyuck and his matcha latte making skills. Like, full-on blushed pink, heart-eyes-moment and all.” Chenle was cackling as if people falling for Donghyuck was a laughing-matter.

“It’s a normal reaction, I expect it.”

Though it was particularly welcomed when tall, cute guys were the ones falling for Donghyuck’s perfect self, but he did not care about the title thief. He could be cute all he wanted. Donghyuck didn’t care, wouldn’t care.

“I’m so confused,” Jisung muttered and crumbled the empty bag up just to go for the next.

“I can explain it again if you want to join me? I’ll be getting a unicorn shake at the Union Square place, I’d treat you for an iced matcha latte, no ice.”

“Iced matcha latte no ice?” Jisung shook his head as if Donghyuck had lost it, which he clearly had not.

“Actually, I want to see the dude that’s getting you all riled up. I’ll even order that abomination of a drink – if you pay,” Chenle announced.

“Why am _I_ paying? I? The poor student working to pay for new clothes, while you get a fat cheque from your parents every month?”

“I don’t get a cheque, what year is this? They transfer me my weekly budget every Monday. Anyway, it’s your bullying, so I’m not paying.”

“Why are we even bullying anyone? That’s rude,” Jisung muttered. Ah. Sweet summer child. He still hadn’t understood the fraudulence that Donghyuck was suffering from.

While taking the bus to Union Square – a whopping 34 minutes 18 seconds away from CTU – Donghyuck had the fleeting thought that it was getting out of hand and that this couldn’t be worth it.

Of course, it left as quickly as it had come when Chenle showed him a picture Kun had sent him of his and his girlfriend’s cat. Donghyuck also wanted a cat! Or, better yet, a dog! Too bad there was neither space nor money to care for one.

It was two minutes before half five when they entered the shop. It was slightly unfortunate that Sungchang only had the last shift once a week because it’d unnecessarily stretch out how long it’d take until he’d finally quit, but what could Donghyuck do?

The girl behind the counter was the same as last week and her expression soured when she recognised Donghyuck.

Not his problem.

“Wow, this place is so fancy. Your location looks like Barbie Dreamhouse in comparison.”

Donghyuck accidentally stepped onto Chenle’s foot.

“Wait, what was I supposed to order again?” Jisung asked, trying to stop Donghyuck from making a beeline over Chenle’s foot and towards the counter.

It was already a trainwreck. Donghyuck shouldn’t have taken these two but nagged Mark some more. Mark always gave in sooner or later, benefit of being life-long best friends.

“You’ll order a cappuccino with however shots of sirup you want, decaf because it’s late, and hot.” Because experience told Donghyuck that they would have already turned the coffee machine off and while he had escaped having to turn it back on oh-so-skillfully, he wouldn’t return that favour.

The thief had also noticed them and watched with wide eyes how Donghyuck and his two side-kicks made their way to the counter.

“H-hi, welcome to Moon Prism Café, how may I h-help you today?”

Donghyuck sighed as if this was the hugest inconvenience and he wasn’t here because he had decided – he was the customer, the underdog stolen of his title, he could be however rude he chose to be.

“Hey, don’t you have muffins?” Chenle asked and Donghyuck nearly sputtered.

Had his side-kick just made up an evil side-quest? And unasked, after being snarky?

He’d mark his calendar.

“Um, muffins?”

There were always muffins because they had to be baked freshly and were fridged before that. “I think not anymore at this time, I’m sorry.”

“Mm, okay…” Chenle looked like Regina George when things didn’t go her way. Donghyuck would thank him later, but where had this change of heart come from?

“I could make some if you really want to!” Sungchan backpaddled. Wow, the poor man was really making his life harder than it would have to be, such a pushover.

The girl working alongside him looked like she agreed with Donghyuck.

“Actually, sorry, we’re just out,” she cut in. A reasonable reply, even though not the most customer-friendly one. Donghyuck was ignoring his own hypocrisy.

“Oh. Right. Sorry. Maybe you could make it tomorrow?” Sungchan looked a bit too hopeful for returning customers as if he didn’t have enough business people to sell to here.

“Nah. I’ll take an iced matcha latte, no ice, then.”

It was like he was having war-flashbacks and Donghyuck felt bad for 2 seconds. Wow, where had that come from? He did _not_ feel bad for the title thief, definitely not.

“Um, me a cappuccino without four caramel, please. Oh and decaf. Hot.” Jisung chimed in.

“I’ll take the unicorn. I hope you know how to make it,” Donghyuck added, holding his credit card out. Okay, debit card. Whatever.

“Unicorn?” Sungchan turned to his co-worker, who was busy turning the coffee machine back on.

Donghyuck raised an eyebrow.

“Right, sure.” Sungchan smiled, but he couldn’t hide the panic in his eyes.

It became somewhat of a pattern.

Donghyuck would drag someone along with him to Union Square, Sungchang would come to CTU campus, dragging someone as well.

It was just that Donghyuck always won.

Whatever mean trick Sungchan tried, Donghyuck delivered and whatever mean trick Donghyuck tried, Sungchan needed two or three attempts until he succeeded.

“At this point, I think it’s some mating ritual.”

Donghyuck gasped. Some what now? He wasn’t a peacock!

“I’m just a little worried, Donghyuck. You’re one of my best baristas and you know that, don’t you?” Taeil worked one shift at CTU every week and sometimes Donghyuck shared it. He loved working with Taeil because despite being six years older and his boss, it never felt like he was. Taeil was cute, easy-going, and just the best boss possible!

Yoona shrugged as if she hadn’t just made fun of Donghyuck’s pursuit to reclaim his title from the thief that had by now taken it **three months in a row** , making him an _unbearable_ vice-champion.

“Well, then stop that cheater from pretending like he gets tipped more than he possibly could be,” Donghyuck snarled.

“I can’t exactly surveil everything all the time, but you have to consider the clientele the store on Union Square gets.”

“That’s right, we’ve lost a lot to them in the ranking. You shouldn’t compare across locations anyway, or the Vision mall people would all just quit from frustration, wouldn’t they?”

Donghyuck nodded but internally screamed.

How dare they?

How dare they shield that title thief?

“Anyway, Yuri also told me Sungchan has been making a lot of progress in his skills because of you, so I might have to pay you a little bonus for your hard work,” Taeil beamed and Donghyuck was torn between celebrating money and mourning his involuntary support of the enemy.

Donghyuck felt a bit better after that, knowing that Taeil saw and appreciated his hard work.

Of course, he still didn’t have his title back and not even sweet Taeil was going to stop Donghyuck from trying.

No, Donghyuck was still at war, was going to…

“Did you read? Jung Sungchan was transferred from the Union Square location because he actually originally had applied here but we didn’t need anyone. Now that Yoo Jimin quit, he took her spot!”

“Oh! I heard he’s super cute!”

“And tall! When will he start?”

He was going to fucking **scream**.

Was this a joke to them?

“What?” At least Kunhang was still on my side. Everyone else was a traitor!

“Oh, that was the initial plan, did I never tell you?” Yoona looked up from her clipboard. Yes, she was a very capable store manager and Donghyuck respected her greatly, but, respectfully, what the fuck, no she had never said that and looking at her small smile, she knew that just like he did.

“I’m sure you’ll make him feel welcome despite the small differences about the ranking, won’t you?”

Ha.

Haha.

“Like hell I will,” Donghyuck muttered to Kunhang, who nodded mutely, visibly just as shocked by the audacity of it all.

“Now that he’s within reach, I think we can achieve our goal easier.”

“You’re damn right. When is his first shift?”

They both huddled over Kunhang’s phone, opening the schedule for the week.

“Tomorrow!”

“With you!”

Donghyuck clenched his hands into fists.

“It’ll be his shift from hell!”

“Wohoo,” Kunhang softly cheered.

“I say this as a person who enjoys hiding his co-workers' tools and seeing them struggle: You’re being mean.”

Donghyuck stole one of Renjun’s mini-pretzels with chocolate.

“I’m not. He’s doing it, too.”

“Great, so you see him top that incentive list and then go seek him out in his location and bully him a bit – and he just returned the favour and now it’s his fault?”

“He didn’t just return it, he made it worse, so then I made it worse and then he made it worse and then I made it worse and now he’s taking Jimin’s spot! Next to me! What is this?”

“I bet he just wants a job to pay his bills and stumbled into this mess, completely unassuming. Nevermind Chenle insists he has a huge crush on you.”

“I assume he does, but so do many other people.”

Renjun groaned.

“If you could sell your confidence in tiny pills, many people could be helped. Instead, it’s just wasted on you. If people had crushes on me, I’d date them, not bully them out of their jobs!”

Donghyuck hesitated.

Well, Sungchan was tall, he was cute, he was probably not entirely stupid, and he played Donghyuck’s game rather than complain to Taeil and try to make management fire Donghyuck for being an asshole…

“Nah, I don’t date people.”

Renjun leaned closer, resting his chin on his palm.

“Why, though?”

Donghyuck shrugged.

“I’m fine alone.”

“Commitment issues?”

“No.”

“Fear of rejection?”

“No?”

“Internalised homophobia?”

“Excuse me, my pan flag is literally right here!”

“Daddy issues?”

“I’ll kick your ass out and keep your pretzels.”

“Fine. I’m just confused. I’d date him if he was into me.”

“And yet you don’t date Wong, I call bullshit.”

Renjun waved him off.

“Yukhei has a bet going on, I’m sure of it. I won’t become victim to some guy and his toxic superiority-complex who wants to tame the screw for his ego.”

Donghyuck frowned and helped himself to the bag of crisps that was still untouched and begging to be eaten.

“Really? I never heard about that. Who told you? I’ll kick his ass, that’s gross!”

“No one told me, I deducted that myself from his ridiculous attempts to ask me out and whatnot. It’s quite embarrassing, actually.”

“Have you ever considered that he’d just a dork? Because he’s friends with Mark, so…”

“He’s not, he runs the university merch shop next to studying medicine,” Renjun took some of the crisps from Donghyuck.

“Thrilling logic. I like noodles, so the sun is shining,” Donghyuck mocked.

“Shut up.”

“Okay, I’ll leave you and your daddy issues alone.”

“Take that back, Lee Donghyuck!”

And then, hell day had arrived.

Donghyuck turned on a metal playlist to put himself in the mood right after getting up at 5 am for the morning shift – which alone already set the tone for the day. An absolutely inhumane hour to get up, but the first two hours paid extra until 8 am to make up for his sacrifices so he actually liked working it. Cash is king.

Turned out he still didn’t like metal, so he changed it to AC/DC while brushing his teeth.

He arrived at the café five minutes before opening, the music still blasting. Okay, well, he had then switched to Dreamcatcher because AC/DC at 5 am just wasn’t his lifestyle and Dreamcatcher seemed badass enough.

He felt the spirit of retaliation run in his veins. He was the nightmare risen from the hell to haunt…

“Hey, good morning! I read we were on the same shift together!”

Donghyuck slowly, slowly, okay too slowly what the fuck he needed to get things set up he didn’t have time for the dramatic effect, turned his head.

Sungchan was beaming at him. Fuck he was really tall up close.

“Apparently.” Donghyuck turned to the door again and unlocked it.

He nearly slammed it shut in Sungchan’s face, but 1 – Sungchan was fucking fast and 2 – he wasn’t a monster.

“So, um, Yoona already showed me around on Monday. I’m ready to get to work!”

“Well, I sure hope you are since you showed up _for work_.”

“Right.” Sungchan nodded to himself and Donghyuck felt bad.

“Hey, it’s fine, okay? I get you’re super eager and it’s cute.”

“Cute?”

Had Donghyuck meant to say that? No. Was he going to roll with it? Yes.

“Yeah. Don’t get too full of yourself. This isn’t Union Square where the people have too much money to spare and tip like there’s no rent to pay.”

“Right. I’m excited to learn from the best then!”

Donghyuck’s mouth twitched and he remembered to think before speaking.

“As you should be.”

“Okay, pens here, replacement cups here, lids here, fridge, milk, store, beans, any questions?” Donghyuck asked. Sungchan was really tall, he might be taller than Johnny even – though Johnny was about twice his size widths-wise. “If I get a crick in the neck for having to look up all day, it’ll be on you.”

Sungchan’s eyes widened and he suddenly couched down.

“For god’s sake. Okay, questions? Morning rush picks up at 6:45 before the 7 am classes and I assume Yoona informed you students without caffeine are like really hungry piranhas?”

“Well, no, but I assume they’re like business people?”

“Sorry, you won’t make it with that attitude.”

“What?”

“You’ll see.”

Sungchan did see.

Donghyuck benevolently saw his own tips sum up merrily while Sungchan struggled to keep up with his orders.

But he kept up if just barely, he didn’t quit at 7:10 or anything, he pulled through.

Luckily for Donghyuck or he also wouldn’t have survived this with his tip-average and customer-satisfaction intact either.

Sungchan did spill a litre of milk and he did drop two fresh batches of cookies, but other than that, he was… mediocre. Okay, he was fine and remained friendly throughout it, so Donghyuck hadn’t yelled at him and stepped over the puddle they hadn’t had time to clean up. And the crumble-mountain.

Once the biggest flow of people had stopped, Donghyuck, in his endless mercy, helped him sweep the mess up.

“Honestly, you’re really amazing.”

“Thanks, I know,” Donghyuck smiled and Sungchan’s face flushed. It was rather sweet and he wasn’t a complete nuisance to work with. Maybe Donghyuck could go a little softer on him?

“I’m really sorry about the milk.”

“Nah, it happens. Taeil himself drops stuff when he works, so don’t worry, it doesn’t go out of your pay.”

“Ah, yeah. I know. I’ve already, um, spilt a lot.” Sungchan smiled awkwardly.

“Right, I forget you’re not a complete newbie.”

“Hey!”

Donghyuck was elbowed playfully.

“Okay, you did fine, much better than I expected, actually. Good job.”

Wait, stop, he had meant to be a little less harsh not downright coddle the title thief!

“Really? Thank you!”

Donghyuck wished to take that back, but Sungchan was still blushing and also there was a customer. He had a title to earn back, but now Sungchan greeted them and took their order, taking the revenue and the **tip**.

Wait.

Was Sungchang trying to _sabotage_ him?

“You’re losing it. You’re completely losing it.”

“But think about it. It’d be perfect. He must know he has no chance to make my tips at CTU, so he has to stop me from making mine to keep his title! The cheater!” Donghyuck hissed over his lunch. His hell-but-actually-not-that-hellish shift had ended 20 minutes ago and he had found his friends, who had saved a meal for him or he would have gone hungry.

Renjun was silently shaking his head now while Jaemin reached out to pat Donghyuck’s hair.

“I don’t think you’re losing it, Haechannie, but I think you’re a little stuck on this Sungchan being so evil when he’s just a baby?”

“He’s not a baby?” Donghyuck gasped.

“Everyone born after the 31st December 2000 is to Nana,” Renjun commented. That was true, Jaemin was constantly babying Chenle despite there being absolutely no reason.

Nevermind Jisung.

But Jisung _was_ pretty baby. And helpless. He had once washed an apple using soap and then whined about it not tasting right. How on earth he had ever skipped a grade was beyond Donghyuck and once more proved that school wasn’t about real-life-skills.

“And Lele said he likes you.”

“Yes, allegedly. I’m just getting this… _vibe_ from him. And he did steal my title, so I won’t put it past him to try that _yet again_.” For the fourth time! Donghyuck wouldn’t be able to handle the humiliation!

“I think Taeil should get rid of that program. Jeno dropped a rank and was inconsolable for days because he was sure he had failed to keep his customers happy. That’s messed up!”

“Yeah, but it was really sad. I cried for him a little, too. Anyway, I’ll be keeping a close eye on that title thief. We still have 24 days of this months left.”

“Y'all need help,” Renjun decided as if anyone needed help and he wasn’t the one overreacting.

“Yes, do that, do that. Also, can I get Americano with your discount for giving good advice?”

Donghyuck narrowed his eyes at Jaemin, who beamed back so brightly, Donghyuck couldn’t hold it for more than three seconds.

“Fine. Come by tomorrow for the late shift.”

“Thank you!” Jaemin squealed and proceeded to squeeze Donghyuck’s cheeks.

Donghyuck didn’t immediately have another shift with the thief, however, Kunhang had.

“He’s… fine?”

“Are you betraying me as well now?” Donghyuck gasped and Kunhang sighed deeply. They were supposed to take photos for Kunhang’s project, but Donghyuck was considering whether he’d even offer his support now.

“No. I just… let’s give him a chance for this month? He’s part of our team now and he really didn’t total a lot.”

Donghyuck ground his teeth.

“If he shows up on top of the chart, we know for sure he cheated and can tell Taeil or something?”

Donghyuck hesitated. “Actually, that’s a brilliant plan! How did I not come up with that?”

“I think you were preoccupied.”

“Right, I was still quite sure he was trying to sabotage me. Which I still believe is true. But we’ll see. Did that annoyingly tall friend of his come again? He came yesterday to pick him up like some boyfriend or something.”

Kunhang narrowed his eyes and didn’t reply.

Very suspicious.

“Are you… jealous?”

“What? Excuse me, of whom?”

“Mm. Sounds like the title thief might not be the only one that caught feelings? He _is_ pretty cute and has a good character, I could see why you like him.”

“I DON’T!”

He totally didn’t.

Absolutely not.

“Closing shift, huh?”

“Are you trying to tell me something? You’ll be working _with_ me, if you want to buy an iced matcha latte, no ice, you’ll have to make it yourself and suffer through that because you still can’t do it how I do.” Donghyuck beamed at the title thief. Out of precaution, he’d exclusively refer to him as such. If he used a name, it’d be easier to develop some sort of connection.

Or

Feelings.

Which he would want to avoid at all costs!

“Or… you could teach me how you do it?” The title thief suggested, a shy smile on his face. Donghyuck’s neck cracked.

“The only thing I’ll be teaching you is how to massage my neck to make up for the damage I’m suffering from having to work with you and constantly look up.” Donghyuck rolled his head and his neck cracked again. Why wasn’t he above 1.80m, too?

“Oh, you don’t have to, I know how to do that, Jungwoo taught me! Do you want me to show you?”

Donghyuck stared back blankly, feeling how he usually only did when Mark went off about how Jeno was the sweetest person in the universe when Jeno was the one making the darkest jokes out of all of them – even Renjun!

The door’s bell chimed and Donghyuck had to realise the title thief had rendered him speechless.

Him! Lee Donghyuck, the wittiest barista of them all!

Clearly, he was being sabotaged here. He wished he could just snitch on him to Taeil, but that’d be weak.

No, he’d show him he could overcome the obstacles because he was better than Sungchan. Erm. The title thief.

Said title thief greeting the guest with a beam and snatching the order from Donghyuck was just further proof of the foul play currently being conducted.

Yet Donghyuck couldn’t stop it, he could only watch as the TT, wait, no, bad nickname now Donghyuck had Twice stuck in his head, um, The Thief, yes, much better, burnt himself on the coffee machine’s steam. Probably instant Karma for stealing Donghyuck’s tip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know your thoughts ^^
> 
> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)


	3. Chapter 3

The month stretched on.

Donghyuck just wanted to see the ranking and know if he had his title back because the more shifts he worked with The Thief, the harder it was to keep the hostile attitude up.

He was just so cute?

“You kinda _do_ sound like you caught feelings.”

Donghyuck looked up from his tomato plant and glared at Yangyang who was watering tomatoes on his side of the green-house.

“No. Why would you say that? I literally hate him.”

“I think that’s what does it for you, though,” Yangyang smirked.

“No, it doesn’t. Wow, why did I even confide in you, I could have just told Renjun if I had wanted to get roasted.”

“True, but now _I_ can tell Renjun and laugh about you together.”

“If you break your promise not to tell a living soul, I will kill your bell pepper plants. All of them.”

Yangyang gasped.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“And the baby peach tree!”

“You wouldn’t do that. Not even a coldblooded psychopath would put a hand onto Nicky Minaj!”

Donghyuck laughed his best evil-villain-laughter even though he, of course, wouldn’t hurt Yangyang’s baby peach tree. He considered himself her uncle and had helped Yangyang raise her for the last two years to the beautiful little plant she was now.

“Fine, I won’t tell anyone. I’ll still watch that disaster unfold because I know it will.”

“Can’t you worry about your own dry dating life?”

“I can’t handle the endless search for someone right now, I’ve given up for the time being.”

“So sad.”

“As if you’re any better.”

“I’m just hoping I can stop being deliberately mean when I don’t want to be!”

“Yeah, that sentence alone should make anyone realise there’s an issue and yet here we are, actually having this discussion.”

“Fine, let’s talk about something else. Did you hear about the dating rumour between Jung Jaehyun and Kim Dongyoung?”

“Please, that’s fake as fuck, no way would their company allow Dispatch to waffle about that if they were truly dating, you know all the celebrities are closeted and locked up safe and sound.”

“Maybe they’ve realised there’s a queer market, though? And want to target it?”

“Doubt it. I think Jaehyun probably has a girlfriend and they’re trying to distract from that if anything.”

“Yangyang, sweetie, you got it wrong, the beard you fabricate is the straight couple, not the other way around.”

As if fate wanted to have a great laugh at his expense, Donghyuck had the very last shift of the month with The Thief. Taeil would upload the ranking sometime during the night, based on the data he got from the registers’ software, but until then he was still at war, fighting the final battle.

Donghyuck was more nervous than he was before an exam and he hated that he was. About the ranking, of course. Not about the shift with The Thief.

It was ridiculous, Donghyuck only ever got nervous before his biochemistry exams because those kicked ass.

Under no circumstances could The Thief know how worked up he was about this situation.

Why was he even so eager to be nice to him, wow, maybe Yangyang was right after all and Donghyuck was having some issues here? Horrifying, the last time he had had a serious crush, his heart had gotten fucking stomped on and he would _never_ be over that. _No_ , he didn’t have commitment issues, thank you.

“Do you have plans for the weekend?”

Donghyuck nearly replied and told The Thief about his busy plans for Saturday and Sunday because Donghyuck was a social butterfly and a day without at least seeing four different friends or groups of friends felt lonely, but he stopped himself.

What was he even doing, becoming all comfortable around him? Outrageous!

“Yes.” Was all he answered, channelling his inner Emily Charlton.

“Great! Um. What plans?”

Good lord, Donghyuck was being tested. He wanted to start talking about this so badly, please!

“Ironing my aprons, you should try it because they look much cuter and prettier when you do.”

“You iron them?” The Thief asked with wide eyes. The crink in Donghyuck’s neck was reporting for duty. He should accept the massage he had been offered after all, but he was too prideful to steep that low.

“Are you five? Did you mum not teach you to iron all your stuff?”

“N-o. Could you show me?” The Thief timidly smiled, looking nervous. Rightfully so, Donghyuck would have been nervous, too, to admit being 19 and unable to iron a fucking apron – it didn’t get any easier, it was literally a flat piece of cotton.

Wait.

Waitwaitwaitwaitwait what was Donghyuck DOING?? Giving away tips how to make better tips?

He was sabotaging himself, wasn’t he? That was what happened when you got too close to the enemy.

Then again, either he’d finally reveal Sungchan as the cheater he was later tonight or it’d be fine anyway and he could stop this… thing.

Which left this issue of the feelings that people had alluded to and that Donghyuck could see himself developing if he wasn’t careful.

This was just a plain nightmare.

“Do you live in the uni dorms?” Donghyuck asked against his better judgement.

Again.

What was he even doing?

“I do. I live in house F, do you know where that is?” Sungchan asked and Donghyuck gaped back at him, only to be interrupted by customers.

This time he wouldn’t allow them and their tip to be stolen from him, so he turned to the counter and greeted them.

While he was preparing coffee, another one came and then another and another. It was usually like this and Donghyuck _usually_ didn’t mind that at all, but today was different because he had just found out Sungchan lived in house F and he wanted him to help him iron his apron and for some reason Donghyuck was eager to do that for him.

Yet the people kept coming and Donghyuck knew this was the final stretch to the target, today was the deadline. He couldn’t slack off now, he refused to be second to anyone and he refused to give up before he had done his very best.

But it was suddenly so distracting to stand next to Sungchan. He wanted to keep talking to him, he wanted to give his reply, it was on his lips, but there was no time. He even bumped into him twice. That never happened! And yet Donghyuck didn’t mind it enough because Sungchan smelt nice and he was tall but lanky and accepted his apologies with a smile.

Oh god, Donghyuck had already caught feelings for the title thief, hadn’t he?

He had somehow successfully denied them and now something had shifted and he couldn’t ignore them for a single second longer.

He’d never hear the end of this. Renjun, Yerim, Chenle, Yangyang, Jaemin, Kunhang, the list went on.

Well, he’d just never tell them.

When Donghyuck locked the door at 5:07, he was a wreck. He had still done his best and he had tracked his tips, which had been as high as he wanted them to be, but he was in inner turmoil.

He felt like his outgoing personality didn’t do well when there was a crush to be had on anyone. Like it was over-charged by adding romantic feelings. That was why he was happily single.

Okay, mainly he was happily single because he had been unlucky dating so far.

Taeil was already here because they were the first shop that closed at 5 pm, Union Square 5:30 and Vision Mall 8 pm, the poor souls.

“How was your week? I haven’t seen you in too long,” Taeil smiled because he was just the sweetest boss to ever… boss.

“Good, very good, I had a good week, our tomato plants are doing great and I feel confident we’ll get results to use in our paper by the end of the year. How about you?” Donghyuck returned the question while Taeil plugged the cable into the register for data transfer.

“It was really nice. I found a new strawberry-powder that I’ll be trying. If I like it we’ll change to it, it promises to dissolve easier.”

Donghyuck hummed.

“You know what the real issue is, though? The Matcha powder.”

He turned to Sungchan, who had been wiping the coffee machine down and now looked up because he must have felt Donghyuck’s eyes on him. Donghyuck sent him a sweet and innocent smile.

“We all know Matcha powder is just not meant to be used in this way, but it’s too popular,” Taeil laughed. “But I know you don’t struggle with it, so don’t tease our newbie just because he’s not there yet.”

“I would never.”

When Donghyuck looked at Sungchan again, he realised he had kept staring.

AH! Now his heart started to race, **help**.

“I’ll take my leave then,” Donghyuck hurriedly untied his apron to get out of here asap.

“Have a good evening, both of you. I’ll see you soon!” Taeil waved while the laptop was still computing and Donghyuck wanted to rip it from Taeil to see the numbers right away, but he couldn’t because they weren’t just ranked by total tips, rather, Taeil turned them into some sort of indicator so they were more objective.

Sungchan followed him into the back where Donghyuck took off his apron and threw it into the laundry, picking up a new one to iron for his next shift.

“You never answered,” he suddenly heard from the side.

“To what?”

“About the dorms? And the apron? But I actually feel like you have to teach me how to make really good Matcha lattes as well since you said that to Taeil.”

Surprised, Donghyuck looked up.

“Are you becoming cheeky? Because we’ve already established you can’t win.”

Sungchang flushed. Cute.

“Well. I. The dorms!”

Donghyuck smiled.

“Right, the dorms. You wanted me, the grandmaster, to teach you?”

“Yes, I do,” Sungchan shot back, surprising Donghyuck yet again. “Please, teach me, Donghyuck.” He was suddenly kinda in his personal space. Not touching, just close, where it felt weird that he was so close. Also, Donghyuck’s neck was hurting.

“The funny part is that I also live in building F, but I’ve never seen you there before,” Donghyuck explained while carefully backtracking – away from his too handsome coworker and towards his locker.

Sungchan dropped the confident act and gasped.

“Really? No way!”

“Yes way. And the good news is that building F has an excellent laundry room with several really nice steam irons. I have nothing planned for the evening, I could show you now if you buy me dinner.”

Wait, dinner? That could be interpreted like Donghyuck was asking for a date? Which he wasn’t. But he also wasn’t not asking… help! HELP!

“Yes! Yes, I have time!”

“Great, let’s get out of here and bring your apron!”

So, through this incredible lapse of judgement that Donghyuck was going to suffer through like the adult he was, he ended up in the laundry room of building F with his nemesis/crush.

“You’ve never even touched an iron before? What? Didn’t your mum make you?”

“Well, um, we have someone who comes and does laundry and such things.”

“Oh. Oh, I see.” He was a silver-spoon baby and still worked? That spoke of a good personality even if he didn’t know how to iron anything. It shouldn’t be so attractive to Donghyuck but it was, damn. “Well, plug it in first.”

Sungchan obediently did as asked. He turned it to the correct setting and filled the water tank, then placed the apron on the ironing board, he did everything exactly how Donghyuck told him to. He even did well ironing – which wasn’t exactly hard, but still.

“I expected you to do worse.”

“What? Why?”

“Because you continuously spill things at work.” Donghyuck grinned and Sungchan looked torn between being offended and seeing where Donghyuck was coming from.

“I think you should also iron my apron – for practice.”

Sungchan beamed and before Donghyuck knew, he had stolen his apron just how he had previously stolen his title.

He watched in silent wonder that he was actually doing this for him.

Well.

He was a really sweet guy, wasn’t he?

“Hey, since you also live here, what’s your major? You’re a first semester, aren’t you?” Donghyuck asked because the F building was in the science part of campus, far away from Moon Prism Café and the art department.

He was curious, okay? And he needed to stop staring at Sungchan and do something with his time here.

“Yeah, I am. It’s electrical engineering – and you?”

“Engineering, huh? Didn’t dare to do an actual science major?” Donghyuck teased and Sungchan looked up, this time definitely at least a little offended.

This was also why Donghyuck was doing so poorly on the dating front, he bullied people he liked too much and most went running.

“So let me guess, you are? Physics?”

Oh, nice, he went for it.

“Na, bio.”

“Ah, the easiest one, right?” Sungchan beamed and Donghyuck gasped at the audacity.

“How dare you?”

“Look, I finished,” Sungchan suddenly switched topics and held up the apron.

“I’ll look past that wrinkle. Good job and thank you.”

“What? Where?”

“Let me show you how to get rid of ironing-wrinkles.”

Donghyuck pushed himself between the board and his student and straightened the fabric back out.

This was a lot more nerve-wracking than it was supposed to be with Sungchan looking over his shoulder.

“So, if you study bio, you must like plants or animals, right?” He asked after Donghyuck had finished and unplugged the iron to let it cool down and go home.

“Yeah, I do. Though it’s not really a given.”

“No?”

“Well, do you adore Nikola Tesla?”

“Yes! You know him? He was incredibly, just such an unlucky person, but we owe him so many major discoveries and technological advances!”

“Okay, well, that didn’t prove my point very well, but now I know you’re a true nerd.”

“Guilty as charged,” Sungchan winked because, apparently, he was growing really bold here. Donghyuck would like to clock him for the audacity once more, but he was kinda not working up to par because of this heart racing and stuff.

“How about you? Is it Da Vinci?” Sungchan smirked and looked hot, sending Donghyuck spiralling further. Handsome and with a brain, how could anyone blame him for catching feelings? He’d challenge people not to develop them in the presence of this excellent specimen of a man.

“I thought you’d say Darwin, but you go for him? You have taste, I like it.”

So, somehow, Donghyuck got involved in a very wild discussion about the Renaissance and then art and the Louvre and then suddenly they were talking about gay rights and he was only pulled from that when his phone rang.

No one ever called him but his mum and he didn’t want to miss her calls because he loved her, so he always had the sound for calls on.

“Hello?”

 _“Have you see the ranking?”_ It was Kunhang, yelling into the phone. Donghyuck pulled it from his ear.

“The what?”

_“The. Ranking. That we’ve been anticipating for a month now to reveal whether or not Sungchan is a cheating title thief or just a cute barista!”_

Donghyuck looked up and realised that Sungchan was hearing all of this, loud and clear, because Kunhang was still yelling.

The way he grinned back let Donghyuck know that he had already known. It wasn’t exactly a secret, so he unashamedly carried on.

“Well, yes, I know what ranking but it’ll only come out later after Vision closes.”

_“Dude, it’s nine? It was posted seconds ago!”_

“WHAT?”

Donghyuck looked around but there was no clock and Sungchan looked just as surprised as he was to hear it was this late. Had they really just talked for over three hours? Sure, people had come and gone to do their laundry, but it hadn’t seemed to be quite _that_ long.

And it had been so enjoyable?

“Well, tell me the result!” Donghyuck was now also yelling because he didn’t want to have wasted this time with a title thief!

Nevermind this crush he had on him! It was thriving! Because Sungchan was pretty great! What if his suspicions had been right, after all and now they’d have to go back to being enemies? He hated being wrong, but right now he’d like to be.

 _“I guess you’ll have to look it up yourself,”_ Kunhang, the dirty traitor, chirped.

“Tell me right this second! Kunhang!”

_“You know, you could just look right now? It’d be faster!”_

Donghyuck ripped the phone from his ear once more to do just that since his friend had abandoned him cruelly, but Sungchan had been faster and turned his phone, showing the ranking on his screen.

#1 Osaki Shotaro (U store)

#2 Lee Donghyuck (CTU store)

#3 Kim Minjeong (U store)

“What?” A whisper of utter shock was all Donghyuck was able to muster.

This couldn’t be true. It could not.

_“See? He’s not even number three, no way did he cheat or he would have hopefully done better than the measly 14 th place he’s in right now, so you can finally indulge in your crush.”_

“Hey, 14 isn’t so bad,” Sungchan whined and Donghyuck was still staring at the ranking.

Who was this NEW title thief? And **how dare he**?

_“Um… am I hearing Sungchan? If so, sorry for revealing your deep dark secret but I assume you’re already on a date anyway, so… carry on. Have fun. Use protection.”_

Donghyuck looked up, only now realising because he had been preoccupied with the ranking.

Sungchan was flushed pink, not saying anything.

“Well, I guess I can stop trying to force myself to hate you now, but, wow, 14th? I think you need some help. After all, it seems like these cheaters at U Square are still at it. I think we should try to beat them,” Donghyuck laughed, slightly (very) panicked.

“Uh. Yeah? I’d… appreciate that, but… um, well, I owe you a meal so… would you like to go on a date?”

Wait.

“What?”

“Um, date. I’d like to ask you on a date, please.” Sungchan looked like he regretted setting himself up to be dumped.

How Donghyuck had been so many times.

He couldn’t do that to someone. Especially not someone who was clearly not a title thief and had just benefitted from the unfair advantage of clientele between store locations. Especially, especially not to someone he had developed a crush on over the last month and the last three hours in particular.

“A date it is.”

“Yes! Yes, oh wow, that was the most nerve-wracking minute of my entire life.”

“You’re so cute. Oh my god, my neck is already killing me again.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll massage you whenever you want!”

“Mm, I can work with that. Okay, let’s get some food, I’m starving.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think! ^^
> 
> [CC](https://curiouscat.me/Fox_155)  
> Twitter: @155Fox


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